dad's page

   PANDORA’S PARADOX\
It seems like the blink of an eye, the time it’s taken,
to travel all this way.

Stepping out I caught a ride on a passing rainbow,
and traveled through a wilderness of worlds,
where time isn’t measured in minutes or years;
but, from significant event to milestone incident,
each one unleashes legions of apprehended possibilities,
like objects swept away in a current.

An odyssey filled with paradoxes, like the most distant route
that travels nearest your heart, where you view it in passing
like the homeless view a lit up home at night; or,
the most complex calculations,
which equate the simplest truths.

A wanderer who’s stopped at every foreign city,
in every foreign universe, before finally arriving at my door,
I’ve experienced every conceivable reality
before reaching home.

I’ve seen every imaginable perversion,
witnessed all manor of injustices and iniquities;
and wondered where you were.

I’ve seen proud people blinded by power
arrogantly walking away from GOD,
and whole oceans filled with innocent victims tears:
before God finally relented and touched me with his love.

   FROM VIRTUAL
From virtual realities subliminal nightmares
I wake with a horrible start.
Among city’s early stirring and small birds singing
deep in suburban slumbers I hear
the smiling day dawning:
fear and anguish flee, with the legions of night.

There will come a time,
when day will no longer set me free.
When my only solace will be my awareness
that it’s their induced screams.

When from dark night I greet darkened day:
never again to wake.

   THE TORTUROUS NIGHT
It seemed as though night were eternal
and day would never arrive,
to save me from virtual realities torture.
The Hell of their sick and sadistic thoughts I was lead through -
who tormented my mind with their dementia,
and tyrannically ruled over its every function.
Pain and misery were now dual dictators;
my spirit struggled, a wretched thing, no break, no rest,
the blasphemous Furies’ prey.

But listen! Through the black gloom, and bleak dismay
that overwhelms the whole world -
softly a distant note throbs…
and dawning in my heart the promise of tomorrow!
Deliverance! from evil’s persecution.
Spring, the new return of the old faith,
which breathes soft and gentle
the diaphanous sound of dreamers’ joy!

       RED TIDE
In a deep well of silence, the supine mountains
Slumber where they collapsed exhausted,
Archingly, midnight tolls out the final moment before Death.
My breath is labored and erratic, my melancholy heart
is sad with its stone covered dreams
that crowd around the grave…..

Each wound weeps red tears
and is remembered as they flow in a thousand rivers,
which deluge the infinite sea.

   SO MANY
So many corpses,
left lying
everywhere.

“Silence! You!”

   PRINCE OF PORTLAND
My moustache droops down, resembling a parabola,
my underclothes are clean and white as bandages, and my coat
is no older than linen stitched by Betsy Ross.

Who would guess watching my studied nonchalance, that hunger
has taken up residence in my stomach; and, like a right wing extremist,
exquisitely tortures me like Marat de Sade.

If only some roasted foul would fall from the window of Heaven,
and land in my hands, instead of this bouquet of dead faded flowers,
decapitated they grace my attire, and pay beauty its due.

Tonight, downtown on Broadway street lights illuminate the velvet black
better than sputtering candles on an alter in a Gothic cathedral.
Look at the limousine! Smell the steaks at the London Grill.

“My sweet little lady, that Chateaubriand, smothered in mushrooms,
makes my mouth water. How about a morsel,
to see if its what I want to order?”

“You Impertinent…Waiter!”
“Sir! Your behavior is in poor taste.
March on out of here before I call the police!”

Say, of course that’s the old codger’s daughter hanging on his arm,
wrapped in furs taking the evening air. She ostentatiously glitters
with costume jewelry, her stylish pure bred, neutered bitch strains at its leash.

And, the Prince of Portland, sauntered down the street, proud of his vices
a dilatory hand on his hip, he mingles with the smiling middle class men and women.
He had no money for dinner. He had spent it on tickets for a concert and flowers instead.

        ASRONOMY & ASTROLOGY
I turn to astrophysics, whenever I want to read the stars;
astronomy interests me more than astrology,
which is nothing if not absurd. On my nocturnal wanderings
the pocked marked beauty reigning mutely overhead
shall shatter into billions of fragments
before ouije boards and taro cards provide insightful counsel.
Tea leaves’ recondite smoke curling heavenward helps relieve problems
rather than are portents revealing future events.

I reaffirm what’s provided solace and succor so many times before
against green leaves budding possibilities
not ancient wisdom nor new wealth can stem
the blood that courses through these aging veins.
an honest face and truthful eyes
bring comfort to your lengthening shadows;
do good and create happiness,
with your grandfather’s gnarled hands.

   GRAVE ROBBERS
Lightening snakes above the city
scrawling its hieroglyphics, flat, distinct remote -
I wasn’t there when the first shovel of my grave was dug out of air:
God have mercy on granite souls.

And my sad soul said, beneath the consumptive boughs,
waiting to leaf out, I remain a private survivor
watching while the existence around me collapses into ignorance
and states of emotional atrophy.

I strive to crawl out of the grave they dug for me,
I belong among the clouds where I enjoy the vast vistas
that separate me from the pitiful existence built on necessary talent
that is arbitrarily labeled as success for everyone in the context of its potential.

Ah, I pity the love-hate,
that makes their dangerous delusions possible;
and fogs ever thicker their vision
of the path that’s lined with a superficial self-accolade
that they would lead me by the hand and that leads to no where.

Whatever yokes me to the thick silence - if only
the task of assigning guilt for those responsible
for the process which has resulted
in me sitting here bearing witness to the cold blue corpse of my life.

   FOREVER WAS NEVER TILL NOW
Son, have you ever heard
the ancient never ending story
that always seems to start, just when it’s about to end?
Stop and listen, the next time
you’re by the infinite shore of some formless sea,
while the restless white sands
mutter to the tireless blue waves.

Observe, as the endless road disintegrates with each step,
into a vast gaping void before it, and behind it, and beneath it.
Until, all human existence is nowhere.
Unseen, the trees’ flowers fill the night air with their fragrance -
“On an island, fatal to the unwary visitor,
slumbers a monster in the labyrinth of time.

The forgotten Gods still reside here
patiently waiting for proselytes to return
to their sacred groves.
The trees tremble beneath the touch
of an unseen power’s presence.

The golden robed priestess,
with Indo-Aryan accents, travels the Peloponaise
with violet eyes and flaming green hair” -

where nothing disturbs the owl’s wise stare,
as it perches among the ruined temple’s colonnades;
and, above, in the dark and cold heavens, radiant stars silently glisten.

           RUMOR MILL

Please see Sen. Byrd’s web sight and read his address on the Iraq war.

               RUMOR MILL
REPUBLICAN’S STAB AMERICAN TROOPS IN THE BACK IN WASHINGTON
Tried to give $900 million to Cheney’s old company for a reconstruction contract in Iraq
GEORGE JR., NOW CLAIMS WHAT ALL THINKING AMERICANS HAVE KNOWN ALL ALONG: THAT HIS TAX PROPOSALS ARE AN INCREDIBLY BAD JOKE THAT HAVE COST HIS COUNTRY A GREAT DEAL OF MONEY. But isn’t the joke on him when even his closest advisers and cabinet and Congress could not tell his usual tax proposals from what, after they were defeated by a vote of Congress, he now characterizes as being “crazy talk”.
Tried to axe $172 million from soldiers’ children’s education
Tried to axe $844 million from vet’s health care programs
Try to axe $463 million from vet’s benefit programs

   After almost two weeks of war with Iraq the end is not in sight. And, while the end is a forgone conclusion with the USA’s inevitable eventual victory, the US is experiencing mounting costs and casualties. It isn’t unpatriotic to want to understand what our stated objectives are. Nor, does it undermine the important and appropriate support for out combat troops to critically evaluate the Republican administration performance to date. In fact its essential that the American public understand the consequences of Republican policies if the young people’s sacrifices, who are serving their country, are not to be in vain. and the way in which they have been executed.
   The Republican administration of Bush Jr. and Cheney have never clearly established what the USA’s objectives are. Unfortunately, the Republican administration seems to have dual objectives, one set which is public and ambiguous, and another set which is part of their private agenda.   In public they have claimed that Hussein is linked with the Sept. 11 terrorists and that he has got to leave Iraq. ####.   In the Bush attempt to do so, the Senate has indicated that forged documents were used. If Hussein isn’t linked with the terrorists, then what validity does the USA attack have, in what can only be truthfully characterized as an overt effort to over throw the democratically elected leader of Iraq? The repeated failure of the Republican Bush Jr. administration to win support from our allies, at the U.N. and in NATO even after attempting to buy it with millions of dollars in bribes in the form of foreign aid, becomes understandable. Remember, it is internationally recognized that Hussein, though democratically elected, is a tyrant of the worst stamp; and, as such, should not be removed by a meddling external power. Further, it is recognized in some quarters that he has had a long standing excellent working relation with America’s radical right, which makes the fact of this war extremely interesting and the subject for a future essay at the conclusion of hostilities. Also, Bush Jr. has repeatedly publicly claimed that Iraq has weapon systems of mass destruction. This issue could be easily and economically monitored by U.N. agencies without the huge expense required inherent in modern wars. Finally, it would be negligent to overlook the fact that the big spending, fiscally irresponsible Republican administration of Bush Jr. and Cheney, had before the war spent the USA into the unenviable position of world’s largest debtor nation. The Republicans were busily creating more debt each year than the previous entire 200 + yrs. of American history combined, in spite of such events as WWI & WWII & the Cold War. When one removes the claims of involvement with terrorists only substantiated by fraudulent documents and weapons systems which can easily and economically be monitored by the U.N., the Bush Jr. Republican administration’s objectives are at best vague.
   There are those who claim that the Republican’s private agenda’s twin objectives are another matter. The first objective is to retain control of Iraq’s oil. Winning a war with Iraq would obviously help facilitate that, especially if the war were conducted in such a way as to improve strained relations with the Shiite Muslim population, which contains many Shiite families who have members that have been driven into exile in the United States by Hussein. The second objective is to spend as much money on a bogus theatrical production - the war - as possible. A war designed to improve Pres. Bush’s sagging popularity, distract the public from failed and exploitive Republican economic policies, which have contributed to over two years of depression and burden the public with a staggering sum of debt. Obviously, the Republican’s apparent confusion over objectives clarifies, when viewed from the perspective of their private agenda’s objectives. Objectives which are largely being realized at great American public expense.
   The consequences of this war are proving to be quite severe. The war will cost Americans $74 billion dollars up front, for a war which contributes nothing to the welfare of the vast majority of American citizens.
The following are some of the detailed provisions of Bush Jr.’s April fools joke, one made at great public expense. What kind of a joke is it (who in the middle of a war, as though there aren’t more important things to be done) makes such detailed tax proposals and then has his advisors and cabinet and Congress earnestly consider them for a period of days, then after being defeated by a vote in Congress, claims it is all a joke! The “crazy” so called joke has backfired on Bush Jr. and Cheney, when no one could tell the difference from their usual proposals!
In addition, the Republican administration of Bush Jr. and V.P. Cheney have asked Congress again for another enormous tax cut for the wealthy, in spite of their record setting budget deficit and the war with Iraq which they have no way to pay for. This time they wanted a huge $726 billion tax give away to the rich that is once more generated at the expense of America’s dwindling middle class and the swelling ranks of the poor. Included in the deal was a provision which would axe $172 million from the education of our soldiers’ children’s education. Also, the vets were asked to sacrifice an additional $844 million in health care benefits. Finally, the vets were asked to sacrifice $463 million in other benefit programs. These cuts are being demanded of our soldiers at a time when the war will be increasing the need for them. How can the Republican Party claim to support our soldiers fighting in Iraq, when they stab them in the back by under funding their vet programs back in Washington D.C.. Even if one opposes the Iraq war, we owe our soldiers for risking their lives defending our country, after all the war is not their fault. Finally, the Republican corruption apparently knows no bounds, because while taking large amounts of money away from our soldiers’ children ($172 million), our soldiers’ health care ($844 million) and our soldiers’ vet programs ($463 million) they are giving our Republican Vice President Cheney’s old company a fat reconstruction contract worth $ 900 million. After fighting a fraudulent war now we are being asked to rebuild an oil rich OPEC country!!!! Whatever happened to the belief that to the victor belong the spoils? The American citizens have been seriously hurt by this fraudulent war.
   The USA has no business paying for the reconstruction of Iraq. If we fought a necessary war against the evils of terrorism, then why should we pay to rebuild oil rich Iraq? Iraq has oil revenues which should be used to help pay the USA’s war debt. Anything less is an admission of wrong doing on our part. Who will get the benefit of those enormous oil revenues? We the people of the USA who are being asked to pay billions for this ill advised war, without any legitimate objectives that benefit the UNITED STATES citizens, could and should get the financial help those oil revenues would represent. After all aren’t we the world’s largest debtor nation? But, with the Republican’s bizarre scenario, the US not only pays $74 billion for the cost of the war, then the US must stupidly pay for one of the wealthiest nation’s reconstruction costs, too. When one hears Republican proposals like this, it becomes understandable how the Republicans authored the world’s largest debt. The Republicans should get out of Washington and out into the country, where there are deserving students from middle class families who qualify and who can afford to pay for college, only to be told that there is no room for our children at this country’s universities. The consequence to these youngsters is that they are doomed to an ignorant and impoverished life, through no fault of there own; because, their lack of education will only qualify them for inferior jobs, which will pay poorly and entrap them in a life of poverty. Or, perhaps the Republicans who are responsible for the county’s sorry plight could meet with our Senior citizens, the 50% who work their entire lives and retire without one concrete asset to show for it, and who could use legitimate prescription relief instead of health care programs that generate worse health for half of them every three yrs.; and, not just a fraudulent hype designed to steal Medicare and Medicaid while giving the insurance industry a free ride. Before digressing further into the negative consequences of this phony war, its appropriate that we examine how the Republicans have conducted this war.
   The Republicans have mismanaged the Iraq war from the beginning. First, the USA deployed troops weeks in advance. This is a mistake for two important reasons. First, it drives up deployment costs by stationing combat troops unnecessarily early. Second, it alerts the enemy in advance where our troops are located and where they will be coming from, which causes greater casualties. Next, after the fighting began and momentum had been won with a major offensive driving up from the South that had rolled relatively effortlessly to within 50 miles of Baghdad, it suddenly stopped, supposedly to wait for a second front to start in the North. This isn’t WWII with all of Western Europe to deploy in. This is Iraq, whose army is already deployed around its capitol. Iraq troops enjoy what are strategically known as internal lines of defense, which provides certain tactical advantages. The only thing waiting to establish a Northern front did was to increase US costs by about 300%, if the war is quickly concluded. If they drag out the war, then the cost increases will be greater, too. American media has stated that the longer Hussein lasts the greater his prospects are to survive politically. And, obviously stopping a drive that had gained momentum has extended the war. Everything the Republicans are doing seems designed to extend the war and maximize the US war costs, which equate additional profits to the industrial military complex. The profits of the industrial military are not as beneficial to the overall economy as one may at first expect. First, it causes excessive profits that then create perturbations in the rest of the economy, which must compete for available investment capital. The aggregate impact during a depression is to engage in management decisions which will in turn retard recovery. Also, it exacerbates the trade deficit among other negatives that are beyond the scope of this essay.
It is interesting to observe the conduct of legitimate wars and to compare them with politically motivated conflicts. In WWII in both theatres of war the most direct line possible was taken to end the belligerencies with all possible haste. The invasion of Normandy and direct drive on Berlin is the European example. The island hoping actions subsequent to the naval battles that gained ascendancy over the seas in the Eastern theatre are the Asian counterpart. In the Middle East wars in the post WWII era between Israel and its neighbors, all wars were of short duration - i.e. the seven days war, when little Israel, defeated Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Jordan in the previously mentioned time frame. The short duration of the war and the strategies adopted by the respective countries to realize that sensible objective, are shared in common by all the countries in all of the examples provided without one exception. Legitimate contemporary wars are too expensive and the outcomes are generally too uncertain, to warrant extending the conflict. Obviously, the Republican behavior pertaining to Iraq represents something other than a legitimate contemporary war. The Republican behavior can only be explained by their private agenda’s objectives.
The Republicans are spending the US into massive amounts of debt. There are many who contend that the irrational and incompetent actions by the Republicans are deliberately being done to enable the Republicans to indirectly attack the US entitlement programs - Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.     It is believed that the Republicans are then going to offer inferior privatized models as substitutes for existing programs, which they hope will renewably replace the Cold War military revenues with money gained by privatizing these entitlement programs. Then, they can pretend, with the staggering debt burdens coupled to and in part generated from the immense tax cuts for the wealthiest 5% percent (1/4 04 1% currently own 40%) who own over 50% of all of this countries concrete assets, and which will generate a revenue shortage of approximately $726 billion that we can’t afford the short term surge in demand on these excellent programs that the baby boomers generation represents. But, these programs are too important for the stability and well being of the whole economic system to discard in an ill advised effort to substitute a new golden trough for the factional interests of the industrial-military. After approximately 15 yrs of escalating demand for these programs demand will moderate of their own accord, leaving the programs affordable on a sustainable stable basis. All that’s necessary is for we the people to have the will and wisdom to float the short term cost over runs over an expanded period of time and we can easily afford to maintain all the entitlement programs intact.
In other words Republicans intend to replace the US entitlement programs with corporate welfare programs, which will transform government into a conduit for transferring money for the exclusive benefit of a narrow band of wealthy individuals; and, they will use these inferior programs, which only benefit a few, to replace existing programs, which benefit all of our citizens. The Republicans who are eager to saddle the US with massive amounts of debt to pay for bombs, which benefit no one, are unfortunately reluctant to extent smaller amounts of debt for shorter periods of time, to help the majority of people be able to retire without the specter of poverty and live with dignity during their golden years. They conveniently overlook the danger we recently learned about, when instability in the money markets resulted in their spontaneous collapse, which wiped out up to 75% of a life time of savings for our citizens’ retirement in an instant. The Republican way of viewing government, as a means of making money, is symptomatic of tyranny instead of a good government model, which develops a country rather than exploiting it and ameliorates the negative externalities of our market driven economies.

               RUMOR MILL
It is Rumor Mills intention to discuss in detail the fate of Hussein. It will have to wait until after the end of the war, because any discussion prior to then would obviously be premature..